Sailing with Kat and Lauren

Kat and Lauren came up from Portland for the weekend to visit and so we gathered up a group of friends to go for a sail in Lake Union and Lake Washington on the Midnight Sun, a really nice 28-ish foot wooden boat. We brought along brunch food and cooked up a great meal as we sailed to Bellevue where some of us took a dip before heading back to Lake Union. Here are some pics from the great day on the water:

Hiking near the Snoqualmie River and Duck Dodging

I joined Chris, Jill and two San Francisco friends on a trip to resupply a trail crew working in the mountains above the Snoqualmie River. The highlight of the trip was definitely stopping at the Goldmyer Hot Springs on the way back. I've been to a bunch of hot springs but this one blew all the others away by far. A series of cascading pools emerge from a 15 foot cave (the dark area in the picture below). The pools themselves are nestled near the edge of a waterfall and a steep, moss covered slop dotted with old-growth trees. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, so I nabbed this picture from another website. I'm definitely planning to go back to the hot springs in the winter which has the potential to be a pretty epic trip involving a 5-10 mile by skis or snow shoes!Here are a few pictures from the hike:

After the hike, we all got back together on Tuesday for the Duck Dodge sailing race that happens weekly in Lake Union. It's called the Duck Dodge because you have to dodge the Duck Boats (and ducks) while you're sailing which only adds to the fun of the racing. There's nothing like a near collision or two to let you know that you're having a good time. The wind was blowing really hard, so it was a pretty exciting race, even if we did come in last place!

Making it to the Pacific

After leaving arid Bend I headed up and over the Pacific Coast Range toward Portland. As I neared the top of the pass by Mt. Hood, the trees got bigger and the air wetter. After days of being in super hot Colorado and Utah, it was really nice to be in a wet, green, mossy climate!

I met up with Kat in Portland where she moved just a week earlier. We spent the weekend exploring around Portland by bike (what an awesome city to bike in!), eating dinner with friends, and exploring the beaches on the western Oregon Coast. I could definitely see why people move to Portland. The biking is great, the city is a manageable size and Kat and I were even given a free cookie in a coffee shop when we said that we had both moved to the area. That would definitely never happen in DC! Here are some pics from our weekend of exploring the area:

Visiting Rico in Bend

Just after I left Moab, my stereo decided to die...which made for a really long, long drive through Utah and Idaho. Where route 128 to Moab was my favorite road on the trip, my least favorite road was the 400 or so mile stretch in eastern Oregon to get to Bend. Man was that boring. But I made it to Bend and made up with my high school friend Micah who is living there for the summer before heading to Jackson for the winter. Bend seems like a pretty cool town. Rico and I sampled some good local beers and went for a great hike up the Tumalo Mountain Trail. After hiking we went for a swim at a great swimming hole north of Bend called Steelhead Falls which is definitely a must-stop spot if you're traveling between Portland and Bend (good luck finding it though...it's kind of hidden...and yep, that's just a random video I found on youtube of some guys swimming at Steelhead Falls). Here are some photos of my hike with Rico: